1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to presses, and more particularly to an apparatus which compacts various machining wastes into slugs through reciprocating motion, while providing drainage of machining oil and other liquid through or along a movable pressure surface. In a most preferred embodiment, novel hopper augers are powered independently from each other, and are cooperative with perpendicular shear bars which serve to sever bunches or bundles of machining waste.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern man has distinguished himself from other creatures by an ability to make and use a very wide variety of tools and machines. Almost without regard to the type or ultimate purpose of a machine, one or more metals or alloys will be used in fabrication. These metals may in many cases form one or more parts of the machine, but may also or instead form one of the various tools that are used in the formation of one or more of the machine parts. As but one of a seemingly endless myriad of examples, even a device associated with modern technology, the computer, most frequently has a metal housing or box referred to as a case or enclosure surrounding the entire base or processor unit. The power supply found therein will also most frequently be enclosed in a metal box, and various bays and slots will most frequently be located upon various metal rails or housings inside the enclosure. A large number of metal fasteners, electrical connectors, and other metal or metal containing components will be found therein. Further, the various molded plastic components such as keyboard, mouse and monitor will likewise include various metal fasteners, sheets, and the like. Finally, the various molded plastic components are most frequently molded in metal molds and with metal tooling. While the example above pertains to computers specifically, and electrical devices more generally, a person will readily recognize that even components such as wood, which may be fabricated from non-metallic materials and without metal forms or molds, will be fabricated using metal components such as routers and shaping bits, saws, and the like. Consequently, even where the materials are primarily non-metallic, there is often a significant amount of metal used in the fabrication thereof.
Metals are materials of choice for a variety of reasons. One of these is the ability to be machined, while retaining structural integrity. As but one example, metal may be drilled by metal or ceramic drill bits. The drill bits will typically cut into the metal at the leading edge of the bit, literally forming spirals of thin metal, resembling helically coiled springs. The application of machining oil greatly facilitates this very controlled removal of metal. A similar removal process occurs in the lathing of metals into various cylindrical shapes.
Other techniques exist for the shaping of metals. Metals may be punched, permitting small slugs or sections to be removed from a sheet or blank. Various saws, grinders and milling machines exist for cutting and shaping. The machines used to work the metal are more and more frequently numerically controlled, and so may be used to make repetitive or precisely programmed machining patterns. Molten casting may also be used, to shape the metal while liquid within a form, such as a sand mold. These castings may likewise have a small amount of waste, such as the neck portion where the metal passes into the body of the mold. Various other techniques too numerous to mention exist, which further expand the utility of metals.
Large, relatively pure ore reserves exist and continue to be discovered, which has helped to keep the cost of metals low, and the number of affordable applications high.
Consequently, metal wastes produced in most fabrication shops have not heretofore received much priority. In years gone by, these metal shavings were simply hauled away to land fills, junk yards, or, in a few more progressive or higher volume cases, to metal recyclers for handling with other metal scraps and wastes. However, the volume of scrap produced from machining operations is very high compared to the actual weight of metal contained therein. To be more specific, the metal spirals that represent an optimum drilling or lathing operation are almost entirely air, with but a small amount of very thin metal and some machining oil. The hauling of this high volume, low weight scrap to central recyclers is, quite simply, inefficient and costly.
Even where this material is attempted to be recycled, the ordinary recycling processes have not worked well. The most common metal recycling processes melt and reform stock from collected waste. Unfortunately, the thin metal spirals tends to have very large surface area which is typically readily oxidized. This thin metal will often burn, instead of melting, and so will produce ash and soot instead of the desired liquid metal. Further, the machining oil produces large quantities of undesirable soot. Between the high transport costs and poor recycling yields, the practice has more frequently been landfill disposal or the like. Unfortunately, the high quantity of oil in the metal has been recognized to be a hazardous waste, subject to regulation by various environmental regulatory agencies. As a result, most metal fabrication operations have now come under some type of governmental regulation regarding suitable handling and disposal of these high-oil wastes. What has been much needed then is an apparatus and method suitable for improving the handling of these wastes produced within a metal working or fabrication shop. One particularly promising approach is the production of pellets, or slugs, of metal from the wastes. The pressing of the high-volume, low-density spirals into high-density, low-volume slugs decreases shipping volume and increases shipping and handling efficiency, helps to remove machining oil which may then be re-used instead of wasted, and vastly improves the melt efficiency and reduces the amount of undesirable ash, slag and soot produced during recycling.
Compactor apparatus are known which are used to reduce bulk scrap material to a compact form. In particular, compactors are used to reduce scrap material in the form of metal shavings, chips and the like that are entrained with cutting fluids, such as oil and coolant, to compact the bulk material into more recyclable pellets that take the form of a “hockey puck”, while extracting the fluid for reuse. Such an apparatus for compacting metal shavings is shown and described for exemplary purposes in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,391,069 and 5,542,348 by Bendzick, the teachings of each incorporated herein by reference. In these patents, machining shavings are auger-fed into a shredder, then compacted to form pellets, and fluid is recovered therefrom. Drainage of fluid occurs via tolerances in the cylinder, gate, and compactor walls. A discharge gate is provided at the exit of the cylinder. However, several deficiencies have been noted in the Bendzick approach. One limitation arises from the vertical orientation of pellet formation and discharge. When the shavings are compressed, fluid is released from around the pellet as the pellet is being formed. The fluid will be acted upon by the forces of gravity, as will the pellet during discharge. Consequently, it is rather difficult to effectively separate fluid from pellet, other than by the undesirable drying of pellets after compacting. However, and as noted by Bendzick, the formation of ordinary drainage channels, such as through a screen or the like, is very much complicated by the intense pressures used in the pressing of metal shavings and the like into pellets or slugs. In addition, during the machining of metals, the formation of very long spirals is commonplace. Unfortunately, these spirals may readily become intertwined with adjacent spirals when being moved about by the feed augers. In such instance, the auger will bind, and shut down the machine. In the prior art such as Bendzick, this has resulted in a need to completely empty the in-feed hopper, until the jam, which is usually at the bottom adjacent the auger, can be accessed and cleared. As may be apparent, such jam-clearing operations are very time consuming and dangerous, since these shavings are usually quite sharp and prone to springing about unexpectedly. As can be appreciated, where the hazards of operating the compacting machine exceed any expected return, the machine will be abandoned in favor of other techniques. Consequently, many shops have avoided implementing any compacting operations at all, owing to the lack of adequate reliability and efficiency of operation of these prior art machines.
Other technologies relating to various presses and augers are incorporated by reference herein for their teachings, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,247,078 by Carver; 4,303,412 by Baikoff; 4,947,743 by Brown et al; 5,182,988 by Styfhoorn; 1,481,806 by Montgomery; 2,892,397 by Finkelstein; 5,207,904 by Abel; 769,015 by Pierce; 906,321 by Sperry; 1,515,318 by Tennebaum et al; 975,844 by Egbert; 3,618,707 by Sluhan; 4,312,481 by Carey et al; 5,088,399 by Cacace et al; 5,147,554 by Heck; 5,167,839 by Widmer et al; 5,366,165 by Jackman; 5,722,604 by Dudley; and 6,406,635 by Smith et al. Nevertheless, these patents do not either singly or in combination teach a method or apparatus to overcome the aforementioned deficiencies in the Bendzick patents.